The Levant

A member of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s guard unit was shot dead on Tuesday, but the president was far away at the time of the incident and the head of his security team ruled out foul play. Tuesday morning’s mysterious shooting in Malacanang Park, the Manila base of the Presidential …

Brent oil prices hovered near 26-month highs on Tuesday, supported by Turkey’s threat to cut crude exports from Iraq’s Kurdistan region and signs of quicker market rebalancing. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan repeated a threat to cut off the pipeline that carries 500,000-600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from northern …

Global accounting firm Deloitte [DLTE.UL] said on Monday it was the victim of a cyber attack that affected the data of a small number of clients, providing few details on the breach. Deloitte said in a statement that attackers accessed data from the company’s email platform, confirming some details in a report by the Guardian …

Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were embroiled in a battle to take away inheritance money from their sister, Tiffany Trump, according to a new archive of the conversations Donald Trump had on-air with The Howard Stern Show. Donald Trump told Howard Stern that Ivanka and Donald Jr. weren’t happy when …

North Korea’s top diplomat said Monday that a weekend tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump was a “declaration of war” and North Korea has the right to retaliate by shooting down U.S. bombers, even in international airspace. It was the latest escalation in a week of undiplomatic exchanges between North …

Three Israelis have been shot dead by a Palestinian at the entrance to a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli police say. The gunman, a 37-year-old from a nearby village, was also shot and died later. Police say he pulled out a gun as he waited to enter …

Myanmar is committing crimes against humanity in its campaign against Muslim insurgents in Rakhine state, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday, and it called for the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions and an arms embargo. A government spokesman was not immediately available for comment but Myanmar has rejected U.N. …

For millions of ethnic Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan, Monday was a historic day. After a century of despair and neglect, they had the chance to vote for their own independence in a controversial referendum staged by the Kurdistan Regional Government — the body that holds sway over the predominantly Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. …

Six U.S. air strikes on an Islamic State desert camp in Libya killed 17 militants and destroyed three vehicles, the U.S. military said on Sunday, the first American strikes in Libya since President Donald Trump took office in January. U.S. Africa Command said in a statement that strikes on Friday …

Israel is seeking to thwart the Palestinian Authority’s latest bid to join the international law enforcement body Interpol over concerns it would leak sensitive information to Palestinian terror groups. Interpol’s General Assembly will convene for its annual meeting in China on Tuesday, where the international policing organization will vote on …

Former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro will reportedly give testimony to Israeli police in the coming weeks as part of an ongoing investigation into suspicions Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received bribes from an Israeli-born Hollywood mogul in exchange for advancing his interests. Netanyahu is said to have asked Shapiro …

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, has used a private email account alongside his official White House account to exchange messages with other administration officials, Politico reported on Sunday. Politico said the emails included correspondence about media coverage, event planning and other subjects. Kushner’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, …

A gunman wearing a ski mask stormed into a Nashville-area church on Sunday, shooting seven people, including the pastor, before attacking a church usher who ultimately subdued him with a personal weapon, Nashville police said. The shooting — which left a 39-year-old woman dead — occurred shortly before noon at …

The Trump administration announced new restrictions Sunday on visitors from eight countries — an expansion of the preexisting travel ban that has spurred fierce legal debates over security, immigration and discrimination. In announcing the new rules, officials said they are meant to be both tough and targeted. The move comes …

Iran halted flights to and from Kurdish regions in northern Iraq on Sunday in retaliation to a plan by the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to hold a referendum on independence. It also started wargames at the Kurdish border. The air embargo is the first concrete retaliatory measure against Monday’s …

Russia’s Defense Ministry says a general has been killed in fighting in Syria. The ministry said Sunday that Lt. Gen. Valery Asapov “was at a command post of Syrian troops, assisting the Syrian commanders in the operation for the liberation of the city of Deir ez-Zor.” State news agency Tass …

A British general in Iraq has said the deaths of innocent people caught up in coalition air strikes against Isis are the “price you pay” for defeating the extremists. More than 5,000 civilians have been killed in attacks by the US-led mission against militant strongholds in Iraq and Syria, independent …

Doctors treating some of the 429,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar in recent weeks have seen dozens of women with injuries consistent with violent sexual attacks, U.N. clinicians and other health workers said. The medics’ accounts, backed in some cases by medical notes reviewed by Reuters, …

A Danish convoy belonging to the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan was attacked by a car bomber in the west of the capital Kabul on Sunday, injuring five civilians, Afghan security officials said. There was no immediate confirmation from Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul. Source: Reuters

If North Korea’s foreign minister hoped to draw a response from U.S. President Donald Trump with his Saturday speech to the U.N. General Assembly, he succeeded. “Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N.,” the president tweeted late Saturday. “If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they …

Two years after Germany took in more than a million asylum seekers, there’s scant evidence of the influx here in this struggling former communist stronghold hard on the Polish border. There are no mosques, few ethnic-minority restaurants and only a scattering of nonwhite residents. But in recent weeks, Muslim faces …

The British police are investigating a series of attacks on Saturday by a group of men in East London who apparently sprayed acid on a group of people, injuring six. It was the latest in a series of similar episodes that the police have linked to gang activities in the …

U.S.-backed forces said on Saturday they had seized a major natural gas field in Syria’s Deir al-Zor province from Islamic State militants in rapid advances since the start of an operation earlier this month to capture areas east of the Euphrates river. Commander Ahmed Abu Khawla told Reuters that the …

The U.S. solar industry was roiled on Friday by a unanimous ruling in a much watched international trade case — one that some industry leaders fear could lead to steep new tariffs on imported crystalline silicon solar cells. The bankrupt Georgia-based solar company Suniva joined forces with Oregon-based SolarWorld Americas to …

Iran tested a new ballistic missile that is reportedly capable of carrying multiple warheads, the nation’s state-run broadcaster announced Saturday. Iran unveiled the ballistic missile Friday at a military parade in Tehran and successfully tested it the same day, Press TV reported. It said Iran released footage of the test-launch. …

Giant herbivore dinosaurs, despite a reputation as strict plant-eaters, did not always stick to their greens. Some of them ate crustaceans, according to new research published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. Paleontologists discovered bits of animal shell embedded in fossilized dung. “We aren’t claiming that these dinosaurs were not herbivorous,” said Karen Chin, study …

By Graham Fuller Of all the peoples of the Middle East who have suffered through various wars and manipulations by the US and other foreign powers over the past century, the Kurds are probably the only people whose national cause has actually improved during the more recent geopolitical turmoil. On …

The Department of Homeland Security contacted election officials in 21 states Friday to notify them that they had been targeted by Russian government hackers during the 2016 election campaign. Three months ago, DHS officials said that people connected to the Russian government tried to hack voter registration files or public …

Uber’s history of scandals and disregard for local rules finally caught up with it on Friday, when London declined to renew the ride-hailing company’s license to operate in the city, its largest European market. Transport for London, the agency that oversees the city’s subways, buses and taxicabs, declared that Uber …

By Abdulaziz Sachedina – Professor and Endowed IIIT Chair in Islamic Studies at George Mason University — INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: As I begin write this paper I need to clarify my position as an insider/outsider academician. As an insider to Islamic tradition I face specific challenges to my inherited perspectives and …

By Prof. Abdulaziz Sachedina — George Mason University — “The Soul of Islam” was in danger. This was just a few decades after the Prophet’s departure from this world in 632 C.E. Muslims had become complacent about the inner dimension of their faith commitment – a dimension that …

A new bombshell report alleges that a meeting between high-level Israeli officials and their American counterparts last month deteriorated when National Security Adviser H.R McMaster brushed off Israel’s concerns about Hezbollah, at one point backing up an aide who denied that Hezbollah is a terror organization. According to the report …

Detonating a nuclear-tipped missile over the Pacific Ocean would be a logical final step by North Korea to prove the success of its weapons program but would be extremely provocative and carry huge risks, arms control experts said on Friday. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho suggested leader Kim …

Scientists have engineered an antibody that attacks 99% of HIV strains and can prevent infection in primates. It is built to attack three critical parts of the virus – making it harder for HIV to resist its effects. The work is a collaboration between the US National Institutes of …

Violence broke out at a New York hotel Thursday afternoon when protesters disrupted a speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. In the middle of Mr. Erdogan’s speech, delivered in Turkish, a man — one of a handful of protesters — screamed in English: “You’re a terrorist. Get out …

Responding to mounting pressure to reveal details about Russian-paid propaganda on its platform, Facebook said it would share more than 3,000 ads linked to Russia with congressional panels investigating foreign meddling in the 2016 election. The move announced Thursday is a reversal for Facebook, which previously only showed staffers on …

Iran will strengthen its missile capabilities and will not seek permission from any country to do so, President Hassan Rouhani said on Friday in an undisguised snub to demands by U.S. President Donald Trump. Tasnim news agency reported that Iran had announced a new ballistic missile with range of 2,000 …

By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem* — On Sept. 13, Hezbollah announced that the Islamic State (IS) released one of the party’s captives, Ahmad Maatouk, which IS was holding hostage in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor in Syria. In return, Hezbollah released IS leader Abu al-Sous in west Qalamoun and another …

Police in Oklahoma City fatally shot a deaf man Tuesday night who they say was advancing toward them with a metal pipe as witnesses yelled that the man was deaf and could not hear them. It’s the fifth officer-involved shooting in the city this year, according to the Oklahoma City …

Paul Manafort offered a Russian billionaire private briefings on the presidential campaign — while he was Donald Trump’s campaign chairman — the Washington Post reports. Citing people familiar with the discussions, the Post said that Manafort penned an email through an intermediary, offering briefings to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, an industrial …

South Korea approved a plan on Thursday to send $8 million worth of aid to North Korea, as China warned the crisis on the Korean peninsula was getting more serious by the day and the war of words between Pyongyang and Washington continued. North Korea’s foreign minister likened U.S. President …

The Securities and Exchange Commission, the country’s top Wall Street regulator, announced Wednesday that hackers breached its system for storing documents filed by publicly traded companies last year, potentially accessing data that allowed the intruders to make an illegal profit.The agency detected the breach last year, but didn’t learn until last …

When he saw his commander holding the severed head of one of his neighbors, teenage Islamist fighter Jalil knew it was time to escape from Marawi City. Churches and homes had been ransacked, people had been shot or taken hostage, and now Philippines government troops, planes and helicopters were pounding …

Russia is “extremely concerned” by U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments questioning the Iran nuclear deal and suspects that Washington itself may have violated a landmark arms control treaty, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Lavrov’s comments, made to Russian reporters at the United Nations in New York and published by his …